A Final Post

This post has taken some time to write.

I apologize to those who I know have been concerned due to my health and to my silence.
The last 2 weeks of my life have been absolutely insane and a bit emotional.

As of June 4th, 2014 I am officially an RPCV. After my many weeks in the medical unit, it was decided that my current health issues are very likely being caused by my anti-malaria medicines (at least from my understanding) and therefore I needed to be medically evacuated to a place where I could eventually stop being on them. Since I was already so close to the actual end date of my service – I was processed as a Close of Service. Which basically is just a fancy way of saying they let me go home early without any sort of negative consequence - but have no intention of sending me back to Benin.

Anyway, it all happened incredibly fast, and the whole medical experience was very up and down. At this point I am home in the USA and working on getting healthy again. There isn't anything actually wrong with me (which is actually an incredibly frustrating thing to hear when you aren't feeling well) except for a cough that will go away eventually - most likely when I am off the medication. Anyway, I feel weird getting into the whole medical this and that on the internet – since the whole end of my service has been incredibly personal. That being said, I felt I owed it to readers and to myself to have a final post on this blog. I couldn't leave it feeling unfinished.

America has been a very interesting readjustment. I am glad to be eating well again, and I am very happy to be readjusting during my favorite summer months. I do miss the palm trees and the hibiscus juice and of course Papaya cat and all of my fellow volunteers -- and countless other things.

To answer the big question: I am very happy that I joined the Peace Corps and am grateful for the experiences I gained. It may not have ended the way I had planned – but I would most definitely, with out a doubt, not have changed anything about my decision to be a part of this amazing organization. Peace Corps had its bad days and its good days -- and some more bad days -- and I loved it.

As for now, I am working on getting myself readjusted and healthy and ready for graduate school! Being home early has allowed me to enroll in an online summer course to get a jump-start on the program (see silver linings everywhere!!) - and some more time with family and friends before I move away again!

Thank you everyone for reading and following my journey as a volunteer. This blog has been an experience for me, almost as much as the Peace Corps itself was, in its own way.

Over and Out,

Zoe Crum
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer 
Benin 2012-2014

Happy Days

Over the last 100 days I have been doing the "100 days" happiness projects with one of my friends back in the USA -- it has been a really great experience. That being said, with my current health issues, there were quite a few days during the 100 that were very much a struggle (and thus resulted in a picture of a water heater.. or better yet a piece of fruit as my happy moment for the day). While my experience was personal between me and my dearest. I wanted to share the project itself and as an idea with my readers because I found it very eye opening, and it was an absolutely amazing experience.

Check out the idea at 100 Happy Days, and in the mean time here are some of the happy moments from my personal 100 day project <3 :

I think that once I am home it might be fun to do a similar personal project - highlighting the things I find shocking or surprising about the US!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!! 

Z